News

Apax lining up £1.2bn swoop on Skandia Life

APAX PARTNERS, the private-equity firm, has explored a management buyout of Skandia Life, the British arm of Skandia, the troubled Swedish insurance group.

Skandia Life, which says it is a top-10 player in UK financial services, is reckoned to be worth up to £1.25 billion. This would make it Skandia’s most valuable asset, as the entire group is valued at little more than £2 billion.

The UK management team, led by Alan Wilson and Nick Poyntz-Wright, are said to be frustrated that their growing business is part of a group that has been dogged by scandal.

Skandia sacked its chief executive, Lars-Eric Petersson, this year after it emerged that senior executives had received up to £125m in bonus payments. Petersson and four other board members were also given expensive Stockholm flats, as were six of their children.

Apax, one of Britain’s largest private-equity houses, has examined how a deal could